Requiem for a Soul
by Clyde-chan
Summary: Momo has become depressed and listless ever since Aizen's betrayal. Captain Hitsugaya is hoping to change that. But nothing's that easy... Hitsuhina
1. Monotone

**(A/N) Just a warning, it's angst. But, let me tell ya, it's definitely not OOC. I think my oneshot with Hitsuhina went well, so I'm doing a story. ENJOY and R&R!!!**

**Notes:**

_**Italics: **_**thoughts, dreams, flashbacks, emphasis**

**Disclaimer: I own Clorox Bleach, but not the show…**

**Requiem for a Soul**

**Monotone**

"_No more truth. Bells ring no more in me. I am all alone singly. Lonely rests my head. O my God! I am dead." - Jose Garcia Villa_

She couldn't believe it. It wasn't true. He'd never do something like that. She trusted him. He wasn't evil. He just couldn't be.

_'But he is.'_

She shook her head, trying to get rid of that thought.

"You know, you're in permanent denial," Rangiku had said once.

She didn't listen. She didn't want to hear. They were all wrong.

_'I trusted him…'_

-0-

Hinamori was walking through the 5th squad barracks in a daze. The squad members exchanged worried glances. This was common, nowadays, but it was still a depressing sight to see the once energetic and sometimes naïve vice captain wearing an emotionless mask.

Toshiro Hitsugaya was beginning to worry about her. Never had he seen her like this. Momo Hinamori was always so lively and happy. But now she was… dead. There was no other way to describe it.

It pained Toshiro to watch. He had been extra nice to her lately, giving her small presents and helping her with the mounds of paperwork she had to do. He even allowed Matsumoto to blow off her paperwork and take Momo partying in order to cheer her up. But nothing worked. She even stopped calling him Shiro-chan. And strangely, he missed that annoying pet name.

_'And it's all because of _him_,'_ Toshiro thought, his anger rising.

The bastard that dared to call himself a captain. Aizen Sosuke, the Arrancar leader. The 'kindest' and 'friendliest' captain. The entire reason Hinamori joined the Gotei 13. And the one they had all trusted.

Everyone thought he was caring and kind. Most people idolized him. And that was their downfall.

"Hey, Captain, smell the sake."

Toshiro snapped back to reality to see his vice captain placing a pile of paperwork on his desk.

"Are these yours?" he asked, his eye twitching.

"Nope. They're Momo's," Matsumoto replied. "I'll bring mine for you later."

Seeing his expression she added," Just kidding."

Hitsugaya sighed, exasperated.

"It's your fault for taking on all of squad five's paperwork," Matsumoto said.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" Toshiro asked bitterly.

Rangiku took that as a dismissal.

_'Wow, the captain's sure in a bad mood,' _Rangiku thought. _'But then again, he's always in a bad mood.'_

"Maybe if I cheer up Momo, he'll cheer up, too," Rangiku said aloud.

See, Rangiku can have good ideas, too.

-0-

"What's this?" Momo asked, pulling on one of the ears of the stuffed bunny Rangiku put on her desk.

"It's Chappy!" Rangiku squealed. "Everyone in the material world loves it, so I thought you might, too."

"Thanks, Rangiku," Momo said in a monotone voice.

Rangiku sighed.

_'On to plan B.'_

"How about you and I hit some clubs?" Rangiku asked.

"I'm too busy," Momo answered blandly.

"I can get Captain Hitsugaya to do it," Rangiku suggested.

"I don't want to burden him anymore than I already have," Momo said.

Rangiku didn't have a plan C. So, she just went on instinct.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, YOU'RE GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS STUFFY OFFICE AND HAVE SOME FUN, DAMMIT!!!"

Momo didn't seem the slightest bit fazed.

"I don't want to have fun."

Rangiku grinned evilly.

"Well, you see, I don't care," she said. "This is forced fun, and you're going to enjoy it!"

Rangiku grabbed the vice captain's arm, and dragged her out of the office.

-0-

"You! I want to take you to the gay bar! I want to take you to the gay bar! I want to take you to the gay bar, gay bar, gay bar!"

The slurred voices of Rangiku Matsumoto, Captain Kyoraku, Ikkaku Madarame, Izuru Kira, and Shuuhei Hisagi sang off-beat with sake gourds in their hands. Momo was cowering in a corner, trying to block out the sound of their garbled voices.

_'I shouldn't have let her drag me here,' _she thought as they broke out into a chorus of 'Stop, in the name of love'.

Momo was not enjoying herself. She never handled peer pressure well, and having the Shinigami force her to drink was irking. She just wanted to go back to the barracks, finish her paperwork, and go to bed.

But Rangiku wasn't having that.

"Buck up, kiddo," Rangiku slurred with a slight blush on her cheeks. "You gotta loosen up."

"But I don't want to 'loosen up'," Momo responded.

"Yes, you do," Rangiku said, suddenly deadly serious.

She shoved the gourd in her direction.

"I'd rather not," Momo said, trying to discourage the intoxicated woman.

"Why not?" Rangiku whined.

"Because she's not an idiot."

Rangiku looked up to see a seething Captain Hitsugaya.

"Oi, Captain, I had paperwork to finish, didn't I?" Rangiku said in a not-so-serious tone of voice.

"Yes, you did," Toshiro said, getting angrier by the second.

"I'll get right on that," Rangiku said.

Then she passed out.

"Umm, Rangiku?" Izuru said, poking her limp body. "I think she's dead."

"Let's poke her with a stick," Hisagi said.

Hitsugaya sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Thank you, Captain," Momo said, getting up and bowing. "I'll be returning to the barracks now."

She turned and left.

Toshiro stared after her sadly. Captain.

Is that the only thing he is to her now? A captain?

For the first time in his entire life, he felt like crying.

-0-

_'Goodbye.'_

_The sword pierced her heart._

_Suddenly, she was falling into an endless abyss, the dark consuming her._

_And yet, she felt nothing. She just kept falling. Forever._

-0-

Momo awoke with a start. A cold sweat was forming on her forehead and back. She reached for the glass of water beside her bed, and chugged it. As she laid back down, she repressed the dream.

_'It meant nothing,' _she tried to convince herself. _'It was just a dream.'_

And yet, it wasn't.

That dream was her past. It was her present. And if she continued like this, it would be her future.

**(A/N) A good way to get in the mood to write a story is to listen to music. Whatever you listen to, it transfers to the story. Love songs, ballads, funny songs, they can all affect your writing. Writing this chapter, I was listening to sad songs. One in particular is "Wind" by Akeboshi. It's actually a Naruto ending. It may not supposed to be sad, but it has a soft melodic rhythm that's a bit somber.**

**Angsty enough for ya? Well, it has to be. I mean, imagine how Momo felt, having the person she idolized most in the world betray her. But I tried to add some humor. Oh yeah, Gay Bar is a real song. It's one of my favorites (lol). R&R and I'll give you a cookie!!! Yayz!!**


	2. Confrontation

**(A/N) Sorry for the long wait. It takes a long time to write angst. Anyway, this chapter is darker than the first one. So, be warned. And review please!**

**Notes:**

_**Italics: **_**Thoughts, dreams, flashbacks, emphasis**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Bleach…**

**Requiem for a Soul**

**Confrontation**

_Worry does not mean fear, but readiness for the confrontation.-Bashar al-Assad_

-0-

"Cheer up."

Momo read the card Rangiku had sent her aloud. The front of it had a cartoonish dog with a large grin on its face. Momo sighed and placed the card in her lap.

Honestly, Momo really did want to 'cheer up'. But no matter how hard she tried to look at the bright side of everything, nothing made her happy. It was like a wall preventing her from becoming what she once was. Carefree and joyful.

Momo smiled sadly, tears falling down her cheeks, leaving salty trails. Why was she like this? She's been trying so hard. She wanted to be happy again. She wanted to feel alive.

But she was dead and nothing can bring the dead back.

-0-

"Maybe I should send _you _a card to cheer you up," Rangiku said, taking a swig of her sake.

"Why are you in my office?" Toshiro asked, not wanting to deal with his drunk vice-captain.

"We need to do something about Momo," Rangiku said, showing that she wasn't very drunk at all.

Toshiro looked intently at his paperwork. If he stared any harder, it was quite possible that he'd bore a hole through it.

"Momo's turned into a robot," Rangiku said.

Toshiro frowned. Maybe she was intoxicated.

"Wrong choice of words," Rangiku said. "How about a lifeless doll. Sure she does her paperwork and all, but she just isn't herself. I'm beginning to worry about her."

Rangiku was right. Momo had become a lifeless doll. A puppet rather. And the one who's pulling the strings is Aizen himself. Though he may not know, he's still got her in his hands. A marionette under his control.

"What can we do?" Toshiro asked.

But it was more of a rhetorical question. Rangiku merely shrugged. What could they do? How could they save their friend from the abyss she was drowning in?

"We need to cut her strings," Toshiro said firmly.

Rangiku looked at him with a quizzical expression. Toshiro left his office and headed towards Momo's. He was going to confront her. There was nothing else he can do.

-0-

Momo sat in her dark office. She walked in without turning the lights on, not wanting to do her paperwork for a change. She sat staring out of her window, though she wasn't really looking at anything.

She heard a knock on her door, and she called for the person to come in.

Turning around in her swivel chair, she saw Toshiro crossing the threshold. He looked as if under enormous stress.

"We need to talk, Hinamori," he said, looking at her straight into her eyes.

"Sure," Momo said in the monotone voice that Toshiro was sure he would never get use to.

"You realize what you're doing to yourself, right?" Toshiro said, diving right in.

"I'm not doing anything to myself," she said meekly.

"You need to get over Aizen."

There. He said it. As much as it hurt both of them, she needed to know. He knew it was difficult for her. She idolized him. But she had other people in her life other than that traitor. People who were always there for her, who wanted to help her.

People like him.

"It's not that easy," Momo said, her voice cracking slightly.

Toshiro knew he hit the right spot. But how would it affect her?

"No, it's not," the captain said. "But it's not that hard, either. If you know him for what he is now, a traitor. Than you can forget what he was a long time ago. A friend. That's the only way you can think of it."

"That _is _how I think of it," Momo said, her voice slowly recovering. "That's why it hurts so much."

Then it hit him. He didn't know exactly what had affected her so much. The only thing he knew was that it was Aizen. But Toshiro never thought about what it was about Aizen that had her so depressed. He didn't bother asking her, though, knowing Momo would only ignore the question.

So he chose a different approach.

"Why?" was all he asked.

"Why what?"

"Why do you think about Aizen so much?" Toshiro asked.

He had to know. She idolized him, yes, but to this extent? Toshiro couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy and hurt.

"He was my captain," Momo said, her voice now level.

"Yes, but now he isn't," he said.

"I looked up to him," she pressed.

"No, you _worshipped _him."

They were silent.

Toshiro may never know what was wrong. He couldn't begin to break the surface. All he knew was that Aizen had her wrapped around his finger.

He always had.

-0-

Momo sat out in the moonlight, on the roof of her office. Toshiro had left hours before.

His visit made her realize how much she was hurting him. How much he actually cared for her.

_'He cared enough to help me.'_

But she was beyond help. Help couldn't reach her now. No one could. She was so deep in the abyss, the darkness closing around her, it almost suffocated her. And the worst part was she had no control over it.

It ate away at her mind. She had worshipped Aizen. She looked up to him as if he was a god. He was kind to her and helped her whenever she was in trouble. He was _everything _to her.

And now what is he? A traitor? Is that all he was now? All that he'll ever be? But she didn't want it to be like that. She wanted everything back to normal. But normal had lost its definition after he left.

A marionette is nothing without its master.

**(A/N) Sorry if it was short. I noticed it was pretty dark. And just to tell you, I found the perfect song for this story (yeah, I do that). It's Never Too Late by Three Days Grace. It fits perfectly. And ironically, it's my new favorite song. So, I want to know your opinion! Tell me what you think of this so far. Review!**


	3. Tears

**(A/N) This is the last chapter, but there will be an epilogue. Tell me what you think and review!**

**Notes:**

_**Italics: **_**Thoughts, dreams, flashbacks, emphasis**

**Disclaimer: I own Clorox, But not Tite Kubo's Bleach.**

**Requiem for a Soul**

**Tears**

Momo awoke the next morning from a dreamless sleep. The nightmares that constantly plagued Momo didn't appear that night. But why? I didn't make sense.

"Toshiro…" Momo murmured under her breath.

She suddenly understood. It was him. Even though nothing he said helped her, the fact that he actually cared had calmed the war raging inside of her.

So what now?

Was she going to get better? Her mind told her that it was impossible but her heart believed it true. Which one should she trust?

She went with heart.

Momo dressed in her shinigami robes, and headed to the squad ten barracks. The members of squad ten looked at her curiously, wondering what the vice-captain of squad five was doing there. True, she used to be seen regularly there, but for a while now, it seemed as if she disappeared.

She walked to the captain's office, knocking on his door.

"Come in," the captain called, clearly exhausted.

As Momo walked in, Toshiro looked up from his paperwork, stunned.

"Please," Momo muttered. "Help me…"

She collapsed to her knees, tears falling down her cheeks. Toshiro got up from his desk, and walked over to the fallen girl. He put his arms around her, pulling her to his chest.

"Shh, it's okay," he murmured against her hair.

Her tears soaked his gi, but he didn't care. This was the first emotion Momo had shown in months. Even though it wasn't happiness, it was something.

"I'm s-sorry," Momo said in between sobs.

"Shh," Toshiro said.

He picked her up, and headed to the squad five barracks, with more curious glances from both squads. He walked to her room, and opened the door. Her bed was unmade, with the sheet thrown to the side. He gently lay her on the bed. She had fallen asleep after crying.

Toshiro sat down next to her, and waited for her to awaken.

-0-

_It was snowing. But surprisingly, it wasn't cold. Momo was comforted by the flakes that fell to the ground, and covered the earth. The snow crunched under her feet as she walked around aimlessly._

_Even though she saw no one around her, she felt a presence. It was reassuring and calm and it told her that everything was going to be okay. She listened to the disembodied voice, her eyes closed._

_And she believed._

_Every word gave her hope. So she continued walking, not knowing where she would go, but knowing it would bring her to a wonderful place._

-0-

Momo tried to open her eyes, but the dried up tears glued them shut. Rubbing her eyes, they slowly opened. She sat up and looked around. She spotted Toshiro sleeping upright next to her bed.

_'What is he doing here?' _she wondered.

"Um, Toshiro…" she said, trying to awake him.

She had never seen him asleep before, and he looked so vulnerable.

"Shiro-chan," she muttered, using the childhood pet name.

Toshiro's eyes opened, revealing his cerulean pupils. His eyes were blood-shot and Momo realized that he had been crying, too.

_'Why?' _she wondered.

The silence was becoming excruciatingly long, and they both wanted the other one to say something.

"I'm sorry," Momo said, breaking the silence.

"For what?" Toshiro asked.

"For being so cold to you," she said, looking down. "To everyone…"

"It's not your fault," Toshiro said.

Momo looked up. Her eyes softened at his words.

"Thank you," Momo said.

Toshiro looked closely at her. Something had changed. Her eyes held something that he hadn't seen in a while. It was hope. Toshiro smiled.

"What is it?" Momo asked.

Toshiro grabbed her hand and pulled her close. His lips were on her own, his hands cupping her face. So many emotions were shared in that kiss. Hope. Joy. Wanting. In that one kiss, everything came to the surface.

_'Thank you, Shiro-chan…' _Momo thought, returning the kiss.

**(A/N) Awww… tears. I found a song that fits this story even better than Never Too Late. Your Guardian Angel by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. It's so sweet! Anyway, the next chapter is the epilogue, so tell me if you want a sequel or anything. Review for a plasma flat-screen TV.!**


	4. Epilogue

**(A/N) Okay, so here's the epilogue. I want to thank everyone who read my story. I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Disclaimer: Even after all of this time, I still do not own Bleach**

**Requiem for a Soul**

**Epilogue**

Things have certainly changed.

Momo's become happier, carefree. All in all, she's back to her old self. But she's also somewhat different. She seems wiser. She accepts life for what it is and doesn't fight it.

This makes Toshiro happy, too. He never realized how much he cared for Momo until the life seemed to be sucked out of her. He now helps and protects her so that she never has to go through that again.

Momo sat on the roof with Toshiro, watching the beautiful sunset. The sun dimmed into an orange color and the surrounding sky turned pink. Soon enough, the moon will take the sun's place.

The two didn't talk as not to ruin the peaceful moment. Besides, they didn't need to speak to each other. The both know how the other felt without words. And they always had.

They just began to realize it.

**(A/N) -Tear- I finished it! It was a happy ending, ne? I thought so! I again want to thank everyone who read it.**


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